1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates broadly to snow skiing and particularly to a novel technique of snow skiing and skiing equipment whereby this novel technique may be practiced.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Skiing was first seriously introduced into the United States in the 1930's by such famous European skiiers as Hannes Schneider. As originally taught, the skier, on skiis which were supposed to be of a length such that when the skier was standing with an arm raised the tip of the ski would at least reach the center of the palm of his raised hand; would be expected to carve heavy stem turns in the snow by shifting his weight to lean heavily initially on his uphill ski; and, as it came around in an arc across the fall line on the hill, the other ski would be brought around parallel to the thus-turned uphill ski after it had been thus shifted to become the downhill ski, and the skier would then redistribute his weight evenly on both skiis. This original skiing technique had been taught to European ski troops, each of the soldiers of which might be carrying a rifle and a weighty pack upon his back.
With interest in skiing in the United States being given some impetus by the return to civilian life after World War II of many American trained ski troops, skiing in the United States began to become increasingly popular and at an accelerated pace by the late 1950's. By this time, however, the original heavy stem turn technique had been largely abandoned in favor of the so-called "parallel" technique which, also, had been introduced into this country from Europe. However, even this parallel technique required many hours of learning by novice ski aspirants because of the size of the skiis which such aspirants were recommended to purchase. The ever increasing popularity of skiing in the United States during the 1960's and 1970's has produced a number of innovations and efforts to shortcut what was once a fairly difficult learning process. Many schools have attempted to eliminate the elemental step, so long taught, of learning to snow plow, followed by learning the stem turn and then, subsequently, the parallel turn. Also and in order to enable beginners more rapidly to learn the parallel technique, the lengths of the skiis have been gradually diminishing from what once may have been as great as 7 feet 6 inches, downwardly to the "short ski" which can be of a length no more than 100 centimeters. Among the most popular of such short skiis is that made by "Elan" and which goes under the designation "GLM" , and acronym of the term " Graduated Length Method" . Such skiis and the teaching method by which they are employed are described in a publication entitled "Ski Pure Parallel In A Day" , prepared by the Special Marketing Division of Dell Publishing Co., Inc. and copyrighted in 1970 and 1971 by Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation. These short skiis, however, are essentially "mini" length skiis of the standard long ski construction. They are intended essentially as stepping stones for beginners learning directly the parallel technique. Thus, after the skier has mastered turning on 100 centimeter length skiis, he or she is moved next to skiis of 120 centimeters in length; subsequently to 150 centimeter length skiis; and finally to skiis of 170 centimeters in length. Presumably with 170 centimeter length skiis, the skier may go on, should he or she so desire, to skiis up to 210 centimeters in length. All of these GLM skiis, however, as mentioned above, are constructed in the standard fashion, namely, with flexible forward and tail sections extending from a thicker and less flexible mid-section on which the skier's boot is mounted. Conventional skiis, moreover, are constructed in a slightly arched manner to provide what is termed "camber" . In the parallel skiing technique, the turn is accomplished by a quick weight shift whereby the skier's weight is momentarily shifted to the forward portions of the skiis with the result that there is an unweighting of the tail portions and, in this momentary forward weight disposition, the skier is enabled to pivot both of his or her skiis presumably in parallel about points located toward the forward flexible areas of the skiis. As the turn is made, the side edges of the skiis tend to bite into the snow thereby enabling the skier to carve an arc in the snow which constitutes the desired turn or change in direction of travel. Where the snow is packed but not icy, it is relatively easy for skiers to make turns utilizing this technique. However, when snow conditions are not so ideal for parallel skiers, as for example, with heavy or sticky snow, breakable crust or even deep snow, properly controlled turns and other maneuvers may require a much higher degree of skill than is normally attained by those who may only ski no more than two or three weeks a year. The more advanced skier may sometimes employ an "ankle swivel" turn whereby under certain heavy snow and terrain conditions he is able to force turn his skiis. This, however, may require considerable strength and a high degree of coordination because the skier is actually forcing the long tip and long tail sideways across or through deep snow and must overcome the resistance to such movement.
Within the last few years certain advanced skiers have adopted a technique termed "hot dogging" in which, instead of shifting weight forward in the conventional manner, the skier tends to sit back so that his weight becomes disposed on the rear portion of his skiis during at least part of the turn. The skier does not, however, remain in this position throughout the complete turn but only in setting up the turn initially. As soon as the skier has begun pushing his skiis in front of his center of gravity to cause a change of direction, the skier quickly moves his weight forward over the center of the ski to check his speed, control his turn, and prepare for the next turn. This hot dogging technique, however, puts the skier in a very unstable position and requires a high degree of skill to execute proper turns. This is because when the skier's weight is placed toward the back half of the skiis, the skiis tend to move out forward of the skier and get away from him, with the result that he must be prepared to cause his center of gravity to catch up with the skiis as they move forward away from his vertical body line. In any event, it is difficult for even the more skilled skiers to execute hot dogging turns with long skiis in deep powder snow, heavy snow, or snow covered with breakable crust.
In addition to the GLM short skiis heretofore discussed, the present inventor has noted the following patents which disclose and claim some type of a short ski or ski board:
______________________________________ Patent No. Inventor Date of Issue ______________________________________ 3,374,003 J. L. Fulson March 19, 1968 3,655,211 J. Bollettieri & April 11, 1972 Arnedalen (deceased) 3,854,739 Takashi Toda et al December 7, 1974 ______________________________________
All three of these patents, however, appear to be principally directed to providing some type of play ski for children and not any type of ski, such as the present invention, for serious adult or other advanced skiers. Moreover, none of such skiis would appear to be adaptable for use in skiing according to the technique which is contemplated for skiis constructed in accordance with the present invention.